Tuesday 16 February 2016

Shivaji’s Letter to Jai Singh

Shivaji’s Letter to Jai Singh

Shivaji’s letter to Jaisingh.
1.    O Sardar of Sardars, King of Kings, Manager of the mango-trees of the garden of Bharat.

2.    0 piece of the heart and consciousness of Ramchandra, the Rajputs hold up their heads owing to thee.

3.    The grandeur of the Empire of Babar’s dynasty is rendered all the more powerful owing to thee and it is its good fortune to receive thy help.

4.    0 Jay Shah, whose fortune is ever young and whose intellect ever old, be pleased to accept the salutations and blessings of Shiva.

5.    May the Creator of the world protect thee. May He show thee the path of Religion which is Justice.

8. I have heard that thou hast come to make battle upon me and to subjugate the Deccan.

7.    Thou desirest in this world to make thy face glow with blood drawn from the hearts and the eyes of the Hindus.

8.    But thou knowest not that thy face is painted in black, because owing to it, this country and religion are in danger.

9. If thou oonsiderest for a moment or givest thought to thy hands and thy strength,

10.    Then thou wilst discover whose blood lends the glow and what will be the colour of the glow in this world and the next.

11.    Further, if thou hadst come of thy own accord to conquer the Deccan, my eyes and my head could have been laid on earth for thee to tread upon.

12.    I would have marched with my whole force at the stirrup of thy horse and would have yielded up to thee the country from one end to the other.

13.    But thou hast in fact come to conquer at the instance of Aurangzeb and under the instigation of those who desire to destroy the Hindus.

14.    I do not know how I shall deal with thee. If I join thee, there is no manliness in it.

15.    For, brave men are not time servers. The lion pursues not the policy of the fox.

10. Or, if I lift up the sword and the axe, then the Hindus on both sides will suffer.

17.    The greater sorrow is that my sword, which thirsts’for the blood of the Mussalmans, should be drawn from the scabbard for some other purpose.

18.    E the Turks had come to fight this battle, then indeed the prey would have come to the lion in its lair,

19.    For, they are Rakshasas in the guise of men devoid of justice ang religion, and sinful

20.    When supremacy could not be secured hy Afzul Khan, and Shaista Khan proved no better,.

21.    Thou art engaged to fight me because he (Aurangzeb) himself is not fit to bear battle with me.

22.    He desires that no strong persons should be left surviving among the Hindus in this world,

23.    That lions may fight among themselves and disabled, so that the fox may rule the forest.

24.    How is it that his secret policy is not transparent to thy brain? It is clear that thou art under the influence of his magic spell.

25.    Thou hast seen much good and evil in this world; thou hast reaped both flowers and thorns in the garden of life.

23. Is it not meet that thou shouldst fight us-people and bring the heads of Hindus to death?

27.    After having attained ripe wisdom in action, do not then exhibit (the folly of) youth, but remember the saying of Saadi:

28.    “The horse cannot be ridden on all the roads; sometimes discretion is the better part of valour”. (Lit. sometimes it is more fitting to throw down the shield and fly).

29.    Tigers attack the deer and other animals They do not indulge in a fratricidal war with lions.

30.    Or, if thy cutting sword has true water, if thy prancing horse has true spirit,

31.    Then do thou attack those who are the enemies of religion and abolish Islam root and branch.

32.    Had Dara Shekoh been King of the country, he would have treated his people with kindness and favours.

33.    But thou deceivedst Jaswantsing; thou didst not first consider the high and the low in thy heart.

34.    Thou art not satisfied with having played the fox and hast come to fight the battle with the lions.

35.    What dost thou get from this running about and labouring under the Sun? Thy desires head thee to a mirage.

30. Thou art even as a mean creature who exerts his utmost and captures a beautiful damsel,

37.    But, instead of tasting the fruit of that garden of beauty himself, delivers it into the hands of his rival.

38.    How canst thou feel proud at the mercy of that mean man ? Dost thou know how the services of Joharsing were rewarded ?

39.    Dost thou know by what means he desired to bring calamities to Prince Chhatra Sal ?

40.    Dost thou know what calamities that sinful man has left inflicted on other Hindus also ?

41.    I believe that thou hast attached thyself to him and hast laid down for him the self-respect of thy family.

42.    But what is the value of this net in which thou art caught for the sake of the Rakshasa? This bond that binds thee is not stronger than the cord of the paijama that you wear.

48. In order to attain his ends, be hesitates not to shed the blood of his brother, or to take the life of his father.

44.    Or, if thou appealest to loyalty, remember thou also thy conduct in reference to Shah Jahan.

45.    L’ fate has endowed thee with any intellect or if thou seekest to pride thyself on thy manhood or manliness,

46.    Then dot hou heat thy sword at the fire of distress of th.9 land thou wast born in, and wipe off the tears of the unhappy ones who suffer from tyranny.

47.    Tbis is not the time for fighting between ourselves since a grave danger faces the Hindus.

48.    O1 ir children, our country, our wealth, our God, our temples and our holy worshippers,

49.    Are all in danger of existence owing to his mact inations and the utmost limit of suffering, that can be borne, has been reached.

50. If the work goes on like this for some time, there will not remain a vestige of ourselves on the earth.

51. It is a matter of supreme wonder that a handful of Mussalmans should establish supremacy over this vast country.

52- This supremacy is not due to any valour on their part. See, if thou hast eyes to see.

53.    See, what policy of duplicity he plays with us, how differently he colours his face from time-to time.

54.    He claps our own chains to our feet; h& cuts our heads with our own swords.

55.    The most strenuous efforts should be made at this time to protect Hindus, Hindusthan find the Hindu Religion.

56.    I desire to make an effort and bring about stability and strive my utmost for the sake of the country.

57.    Polish thy sword and thy intellect and prove thyself a Turk to the Turks.

58.    If thou joinest hands with Jaswantsing and divestest thy heart of the layers of trickery,

59.    And if thou bringest about’ unity with the Raj Rana (of Mewar), then indeed there is hope for great things.

60.    Do you all rush and fight from all sides; tramp down that serpent under the rock;

61.    So that he may for some time l occupy himself with ruminating on the consequences of bis own actions; and may not further entangle the Deccan in his meshes;

82. And I may in the meantime with the aid of these and other lanoe bearing heroes make away with the other two Sultans (of Bijapur and Golkonda);

03. So that I may rain the shower of swords from the thundering clouds of my army on the Mussalmans;

64. So that, from one end of the Deccan to the other, I may wipe out the name and very vestige of Mahomedanism;

65/66. Thereafter, with the assistance of wise statesmen and the army, like the river swirling and foaming as it emerges from the mountains of the Deccan, I may come out into the plains;

67.    And forthwith present myself for service with you, and then after that hear you render your accounts.

68.    And then we – four – may again inaugurate a grim war and devote the battlefield to it;

69.    And then the tide of our armies may be made to reach the crumbling walls of Delhi,

70.    So that nothing may be left of the Aurang (throne) or the Zeb (lust), so that nothing may remain of the sword of his tyranny or the net of his policy of duplicity or dissimulation;

71.    So that we may flow a river full of pure blood, and with that we may satisfy the souls of our ancestors; and

72. With the grace of God, the Just and the Giver of life, we shall entomb him (Aurangzeb) in the bowels of the earth.

78. If two hearts combine, they can burst a mountain, they can dispel and scatter the whole armies.

74.    This is not a very difficult task, we only want good hearts, good eyes, and good hands. These are the really necessary things.

75.    I have much to tell thee in regard to this matter which cannot in sooth be put on paper.

78. I am desirous of having a talk with thee so that no unnecessary pain or labour may be involved.

77.    If such is thy desire, I shall come to thee and hear what thou hast to say.

78.    Thy maiden of speech may open her mouth in privacy, and I may take guard against the words being divulged;

79.    So that we put our hands to the plough of effort and practise some incantation on that mad Bakshasa.

80.    I swear by my sword, by my horse, by my country, and by my religion, that no harm shall befall thee in this.

81.    Or, we may find out some other way to attain our object and make our names in this world and the next.

82.    Be not suspicious owing to the incident of Afzul Khan—the report spoke not truly.

83.    He had secretly kept twelve hundred warlike Habsee cavalry to accomplish my death.

84.    Had I not raised my arm against him first, who would have written this letter to you ?

85.    But I do not believe any such thing of you; there is no inherent enmity between us.

88. Or, if I receive the desired reply from thee, I shall present myself before thee alone at night,

87.    And I will show thee the secret letters which I cleverly extracted from Shaista Khan,

88.    So that I may remove all doubts from thy mind and rouse thee from thy sweet sleep;

89.    I may show thee the true result of thy dreams and then receive any answer;

90.    Or, if this letter does not appeal to thee, then indeed I am ready with my sword to deal with thy army.

91.    To-morrow, the moment the sun shall conceal his face behind the evening cloud, the orescent moon of my sword shall flash forth. That is all. God be with thee.

Reproduced from the Shivaji Souvenir 3-5-1927. pages 172 to 178, by  G. S. Sardesai the reputed author of the Riyasats and Editor of the Shivaji Souvenir.

Friday 1 January 2016

Shamsher Bahadur ( Son of Bajirao - Mastani)

Shamsher Bahadur was the son of Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani .The origin of Mastani is shrouded in obscurity. Tradition makes her the offspring of a Hindu father probably Maharaja Chattrasal and a Muhammadan mother. Some consider her the daughter of the Nizam, while others refer to her as a courtesan of the court of some Muslim chief . Tarikh-i-Muhammadshahi mentions that “she was a Kanchani (a dancing girl) skilled in riding and handling the sword and spear. She always accompanied Baji rao in his campaigns and rode stirrup to stirrup with him” . The first mention of her name in authentic papers occurs in the accounts of the marriage ceremony of Bajirao's eldest son Balajirao which took place on 11th  January 1730. In the same year Bajirao built his Shaniwar palace in Poona and later added to it a portion named after Mastani , Mastani Mahal  (shaniwarwada's north-east corner) and had its own external doorway called Mastani darwaza. 
In 1734 she bore him a son who was named Krishnarao . But the brahmins of Poona refused to conduct the thread ceremony of Krishnarao , him being born from of a muslim woman. As a result the boy was brought up as a Muslim, by name Shamsher Bahadur. His mother and father both died in the year 1740 . But before his death Bajirao gave few districts of Bundelkhand to Shamsher Bahadur as his jagir  yielding 33 lakhs , which he himself had got as present from Maharaja Chattrasal . Shamsher Bahadur made Banda his chief town of residence and loyally served his half –brother Peshwa Balajirao . Shamsher bahadur was married to Mehrambai (or Lal Kunwar), the daughter of Lakshadhir Dalpatrai . A son was born to the couple in the year 1758 and he was named Krishna Singh alias Ali Bahadur. The descendents of Shamsher Bahadur later assumed the title of Nawab of Banda .


Shamsher Bahadur not only managed the affairs of Bundelkhand but also served the Peshwa in his campaigns against the Nizam . On 20th November , 1751 in a stiff action  with the Nizam near Parner (Ahmednagar District) Shamsher Bahadur's mare was wounded with a spear . Shamsher Bahadur also conducted land operations against Tulaji  Angre in 1756 during the Vijayadurg campaign .Shamsher Bahadur also accompanied Raghunathrao  in his first campaign to north in 1753 . Sahmsher Bahadur along with  Yashwantrao Pawar was dispatched to help the Sindhias in Marwad on 29th September , 1755 from Pune with an army of ten thousand . These two Maratha chiefs arrived bit late and  joined Dattaji (21st April 1756) in  the siege of Rupnagar in Rajputana after the Sindhias had ended their Marwar campaign . Bahadur Singh of Rupnagar State, submitted to the Marathas  and yielded the  city to his elder brother Samant Singh, whom he had ousted and whose cause had been taken up by Ram Singh and the Marathas. On reaching Kota , they besieged the fort and placed Ajitsingh on the throne.
In 1757 when Antaji was pushed to Mathura by Abdali’s men he requested the Maratha chiefs of Bundelkhand like Naro Shankar and Shamsher Bahadur to unite and drive off Abdali but he received no positive response .When Raghunathrao came to north India Shamsher Bahadur joined him in Rajputana, towards the end of July Raghunathrao began his march upon Delhi  . Shamsher Bahadur with the artillery and the advanced division reached Rewari on 27th July . He was ordered  to make a base at this city and occupy the Mughal possessions  in the district around . Prince Ali Jah (the Emperor's second son), who had come a few days earlier to Rewari for wresting the district from the hands of usurpers, was made prisoner on 30th July by Shamsher Bahadur. Raghunathrao and Malharrao towards the end of July, reached  Rewari and together they marched to Delhi . Where the Marathas ousted the domination of Najib Khan and restored Imad-ul-Mulkh to power .
In 1758 Raja Hindupat of Panna ,( Bundelkhand)  got his brother Amansingh murdered, usurped the throne of Panna  and banished his younger brother Khetsingh .On 1st July 1758 Shamsher Bahadur and Govind Pant went to meet   Hindupat  . Due to the efforts of these Maratha chiefs some portion of the kingdom of Panna was given to Khetsingh and Hindupat agreed to present 5 lakhs and one thousand to peshwa within three years and to finance the Maratha armies in his territories .Peshwa acknowledged  Raja Hindupat as the King of Panna and Shamsher Bahadur after making necessary arrangements at Kehciwada left for Puna on 3rd August 1758.
During the campaign of Panipat Shamsher Bahadur accompanied the Maratha armies to north with his 3,000 horsemen . In the finale battle of Panipat Shamsher Bahadur was positioned in the right wing of Marathas ,  when Viswasrao fell by the bullet shot Shamsher Bahadur rushed into Maratha centre and joined Bhausaheb in his finale combat .When Shah Pasand Khan left his position on the imperial road of Panipat , Shamsher Bahadur had every opportunity to abandon the battle field and escape unhurt  but instead he chose to join the action in the Maratha centre . The author of Bhausaheb’s Bakhar mentions that Bhausaheb took Shamsher Bahadur along with him and entered the mele killing many Afghans. In the end Shamsher Bahadur managed to reach Kumbher in a highly wounded condition where he was hospitably received by Jat King Surajmal , but he died of his wounds. Probably when he would have been separated from Bhausaheb in the crowd of Afghans and his only option would have been a retreat southwards . It is said that he died crying “Where will i go now ? To whom will i show my face now .... Bhau ! Bhau !” .